Fair doos The Don, ive not said Jezki would have definitely won, I thought McCoy had him and have now seen he is saying the same thing but well never know. Im not rubbishing his run today, im rubbishing the claims that he is different class to TNO and Jezki based on his overall record instead of rubbishing two multiple Grade 1 winners just on one race that I happen to think was falsely run. The CH on paper is not in keeping with the rest of his form, its an anomaly for now, maybe he could have convinced me otherwise today and maybe he will in the future, but I'll wait until it happens.
I cant disagree with that, he wasnt ideally placed for a sprint, it shows that he has more speed than most but all that told you is he might do well running on the flat in France! The previous years race is the type of test I expect to see in a Champion Hurdle, proper gallop, start to finish, speed, stamina and jumping tested from the start, this years race was unsatisfactory for me despite the right horse winning. I cant have Jezki or TNO running to anywhere near their best in that race, they were about 1L in front of Kitten Rock who is a nice prospect but wouldnt have been sighted in the previous years race, and I am suspicious of Arctic Fires run because he seems to have left everything we know about him behind by a stone +. I know horses improve with time but looks too dramatic to me.
Arctic Fire's improvement could be down to a number of factors. The top trainers though seem to be able to get horses to improve. This is mainly because they can run their horses on the gallops against class horses day in day out. Having to keep up with the likes of Faugheen, Hurticane Fly, Annie Power etc etc is enough to make a horse improve. Look at All Yours today of Nichols for example, he was 4th in the Fred Winter handicap, yet a G1 winner today. This is the affect the top stables can have on horses. This is why if you have a G1 level horse, it'll never reach it's potential unless it's with one of the top trainers.
How people can sit here and claim Arctic Fire would have strolled clear by 6/7 lengths is completely beyond me. We will never know the outcome and he may well have gone on to win but the way Jezki pricked his ears after the last and stayed the trip (which he has ready proven) suggests AF would have had to have pulled out all the stops to have beaten him. Personally I think Jezki had him, especially seeing as AF was by no means guaranteed to see out the trip but as I said, it would have been a close call
Have you rewatched it brough? If not I suggest you do! AF was absolutely cruising and McCoy was working away. I said he left 6/7 lengths on the hurdles not that he would have won by that distance in that finish. Any fool can see it would have been close and that jeski finished well but AF would have won, not a single doubt in my mind.
Just incase anyone hasn't actually seen the race again, as judging by a few of the comments I'm guessing not everyone has. The more I watch it, the more I am convinced it would have been a comfortable success for AF. Jezki didn't see the trip out that well, he just looked to because AF hampered ROR when he fell. ROR would have been abit closer without the interference
I have rewatched the race a few times. Jezki was being pushed along but he was always going to be, especially with McCoy on board. Just because a horse comes off the bridle later doesn't always mean he is going to win. It's just the way people are talking like AF was just going to stroll clear despite the fact he is completely unproven over the extra four furlongs.
You're not for changing are you lol What I would say is that it doesn't quite add up that you earlier suggest that the form of the 2015 Champion Hurdle ain't worth the paper it's written on yet you readily concede the best horse won?! Surely that's the ultimate barometer and its got that right, it wasn't like the wrong horse won. Secondly all this talk about not buying Arctic Fires improvement. Well isn't Arctic Fire not simply this seasons Jezki ie getting humped all winter by the Fly but reversing the form emphatically on quick ground at a track the Fly doesn't excel?!! It looks to me any race result that doesn't suit your pre race prediction it's form immediately gets quashed! The last time you went to this length rubbishing form was the Sizing John and Douvan form 'I'm not buying that for a second you said'. Like us all your guilty of getting things very wrong, it's racing horses round in circles at the end of the day! We all get it wrong Boris, me more often than most but when I do frequently tip up a dud I'll usually highlight this and laugh at myself. When you get it wrong just hold your hands up rather than conjure up long winded debates plucking out certain lines of form (disregarding others) to try and dig yourself out of a hole! I could argue from now to next year that the 2014 Champion form is more suspect because the class act finished 4th yet subsequently humped the winner 4 out of 5 times after it! That's emphatic, that's not one race and the fact the Flys on the downgrade at his age adds further weight to that debate should I proceed that agenda. But I won't. Not meaning any offence either by the way
I think you'll find mate he'd already travelled the most part of 3 out of 4 of those extra furlongs ok up to that point!
Oh yeah I forgot about the Sizing John form being dismissed as the worst piece of G1 form around As Beefy says he had travelled 3 of the extra 4 furlongs still on the bridle. Ruby was so confident about how much horse he had left underneath that he didn't even send him on going to the last hurdle. He knew his horse was pulling double. Any horse going to the last on the bit is a horse with plenty left in the tank. You talk of Jezki like he is a horse that finds loads for pressure. Though I've never got that impression at all. He's lost out in lots of close duels. If it was Hardy Eustace he was going to the last with, then I might think you have a point. But Jezki is no battler
